Yozora and the Weather Child
by Puterboy1
Summary: In his quest to save Sora from his "focused" state, Yozora meets up with a runaway and a girl with the power to change the weather who may hold the key.


Hodaka Morishima was not the most handsome sixteen-year-old on Kozushima Island, but his classmates seldom realized it when observing his free spirit of adventure. In his face were two chestnut colored eyes, a nose that was barely noticeable, a tinge of rose on his cheeks, a camouflaged chin, a well-concealed Adam's apple and a helmet of black hair. He was pretty thin too, for most of the islanders lived on heathy diets of fruits, vegetables and all-natural foods that came from trees, farms and plantations among other resources, even those in other parts of the country. His skin was on the threshold between pale and normal tan. Some thought he was as perfectly healthy as the rest of them, and only a very few of them thought he needed a doctor.

Given his social standing, scores in school and a house that was big as the one on the Wazuka Tea Farm, Hodaka had everything in the world, and if he had remained that way, there would be no story to tell…

But the truth of the matter was, he wasn't happy.

He had seen his whole life, as though he already lived it. It was nothing but an endless parade of beatings from his father, sobs from his mother, reprimands from his indifferent teachers, and verbal jokes from his classmates that variated from friendly to abusive. All because he wasn't perfect, all because he wasn't what society expected him to be: to mold him into a perfect man with a pre-destined position in life. Every time he and his parents went out to social gatherings with their friends, they were always the same narrow people with the same mindless chatter of politics, business, social activities and even climate change.

None of this seemed to matter to Hodaka, who felt like he was drowning under a five foot pond in a sanctuary of bamboo trees on the northern tip of Kozushima, with no one to pull him out. Nobody seemed to care or even notice him or his dreams. His spirit of adventure had already roamed almost every last inch of his limits on the island and at this point, in his utmost depression and boredom, he wanted more. He wanted to see the outside world.

The decision to search the outside world came on that rainy midday on May 28th, 2020. He had taken his bike out of the house into the storm, with nothing to his name but a messenger's bag and nearly all of his savings for the trip. He could still feel the stings of the injuries inflicted upon his face after his father had beaten his face mercilessly, after simply telling him that he wanted a different direction in life. The three bandages, which he had placed on himself, did little to ease the pain. Let alone, clot the blood leaking from his cheeks and the bridge of his nose. For the occasion, he had picked a white shirt, his old life symbolically committing suicide and reaching into the heavens that longed for the capitol of Japan itself, Tokyo.

He had never seen Tokyo before aside from books, films and images about the magnificent place, but it seemed like the perfect getaway spot for youngers with aspiring dreams in the field of creativity.

With hope and dismay mixing about in his spirits, he pedaled hard. Faster and faster he went experiencing feral emotions that he never seemed to have expressed before...or at least, when he made his decision.

When he applied those bandages in front of his bathroom mirror some twenty minutes earlier, he was unable to recognize himself. He just stood there in total silence before letting out a primal scream. Hodaka tore at himself, but he was unsuccessful at tearing his clothes and his hair off. He was successful, however, in attacking his room. He flung everyone off his shelves, his nightstand and his bedside table, watching every little preparation of the future his parents wanted for him being destroyed upon hitting the walls and the floor. The last thing he did was take one last look at himself in the mirror in the bathroom before slapping his reflection and leaving the house of misery for good.

As he pedaled, fighting against the wind, the rain and the muddy road, Hodaka was crying, his cheeks streaked with tears. But he was also angry and furious, shaking with emotions he had tried to hold back for as long as possible...like hatred, self-hatred, suffocation, boredom, desperation and the desire to fly and be his own person. Some people passed him, while others took very little notice. Those who did were shocked at his speed.

It took him a fifteen-minute ride, but he got to the docks with their long white columns of pillars that made up the fence.

There she was..._Salvia-Maru_, a ship that could carry eight hundred and sixteen passengers. It's white superstructure and positive reputation seemed like a metaphorical beacon for hope for Hodaka, who just rushed up the gangway with a sense of overwhelming relief. He paid the ticket offer, gave his destination...and the white hull of _Salvia-Maru_ swallowed him. It was a normal ship to everyone else. To him, it was the ship of freedom, breaking him the chains forged by his school, his parents and Kozushima's small-town mindset that was much too compressive for his ever-expanding mind to handle. If they hadn't taken note of the bandages, they would have thought that Hodaka was everything a well-brought up Japanese boy should be. But inside, he was screaming.

At the stroke of noon, the ship gave out a bellowing toot. The lines were cast off and with only a very few well-wishers waving goodbye, Salvia-Maru set off towards the mainland, with nothing out ahead of it, but...the ocean.

Yozora was kicked back on one of the benches on the stern, gazing at the gloomy clouds overhead. He had been visiting Kozushima for any sign of a rare ingredient that would help him save Sora and his betrothed. Now he was just thinking about it, wondering if the capitol of Tokyo had the answers. If not, he might as well find another answer elsewhere...elsewhere not being his own kingdom. He could hear Hodaka walking past him toward the fantail. Seeing as there were very few people on this deck for obvious reasons, Yozora figured: _At least I might have someone to talk to._

Hodaka stopped at the fantail. His breath hitched in the rain-soaked air, which he suppressed. He rested his hands on the rails and watched the raindrops merging with the already-massive ocean. He stood like a figurehead in reverse, hypnotized by the churning, raging water. The only sounds were thunder, rain pelting the deck and the rush of the water below.

"Hello."

Hodaka whipped back, frightened at first, but transfixed at the sight of Yozora's heterochromia iridium, his silver hair and his monochrome clothes. He looked like something that only the heroes he ever dreamed about wore.

"Hello," he said nervously.

"You look hurt," said Yozora, squinting at the bandages. "I can heal them for you if you like."

"No thank you," said Hodaka turning back. "These will do for me."

Yozora moved nearer to him.

"I can sense you are alone."

"And I have a good reason for being alone. You don't even know me, so go away."

"I wish I could, but I seem to sympathize with your case. I've seen plenty of runaways back in Shibuya, but I have barely found anytime to help them with their troubles."

"What makes you think I am a runaway?"

"I can tell by those bandages. It's like the rhyme says: Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has got to go."

Then he deduced another possibility.

"If you even think about jumping off, I should you let know that the water could be a couple of degrees over zero. In other words: it's freezing."

"Don't be absurd. I'm not jumping off! I'm just trying to get away!" Hodaka's voice strong and courageous before his small and meek sensitivity kicked in.

"Away from who? Your family? Your school?"

Hodaka looked at him, perplexed.

"How did you know?"

"Just an honest guess," Yozora stated matter-of-factly. "There are some kids on the mainland who run away for a myriad of reasons, but most of it can be contributed to abusive households. I remember one a few years back who left home because his relatives were cold and uncaring."

After a ten second pause, in which Hodaka was pondering over other runaways in his situation, Yozora brought up another question.

"What do you plan to do when you get there?"

"I haven't decided," Hodaka shook his head. "All I can tell you is that I want to find something new in life. The light gave me the answer."

"A light?"

"The sun light. It came to me in a dream. I want to chase after it. Maybe it can lead me to the future that I want to pick for myself."

Yozora stepped closer.

"With all do respect, child. Maybe I can help you find that light. Perhaps it will lead me to my betrothed."

Hodaka stared at this madman for two minutes. Then suddenly, his red and blue eyes seemed to fill his universe.

"I am Yozora by the way."

"I'm Hodaka Morishima."

Yozora smiled.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to write that one down."

Hodaka giggled lightly before he started to turn. Hand in hand, the two of them went down to the dining hall to get something to eat.

But no sooner had they reached the door when, thanks to a strong wave that came completely out of nowhere, the ship took a twenty degree tilt to the left and Hodaka screamed. He did not fall, but Yozora was holding on to his right hand, struggling to pull him back. He may not have looked very muscular, but he was very strong, that Yozora and his even his voice was reassuring.

"I've got you!" he called over the roaring wave. "Just hold on and don't let go!"

Coincidently, the waves began to subside and the ship up righted. The pelting rain tried hard to weigh it down, but the ship refused to capsize. After it had straightened itself, Hodaka collapsed into Yozora's arms, relieved.

A thin looking man in a cheap suit had seen almost everything from the safety of his window. Curious, he came out, having had his eye on Hodaka for some time after they had left.

"What's all this?" he asked.

"This boy nearly fell overboard, but I saved him," Yozora explained.

The poor-looking boy removed his face from Yozora's chest and stared at the man.

"You look like you could use a decent meal," the man cracked a smile.


End file.
